Until the Birds Return

This drama skillfully interweaves three stories that take place in 21st century Algiers: past and present collide in the life of a nouveau riche builder; a young woman finds herself torn between reason and emotion, and an ambitious neurologist struggles with war-time demons. Karim Moussaoui’s beautiful and sensitive debut deals, in his words, “with the desire to create a better life through passion, will, or strategy, and with the success or failure of these aspirations.” Through these stories, a vital, provocative portrait of contemporary Arab society emerges. The film premiered at Cannes last year to critical acclaim, and in the Hollywood Reporter it was compared to Abbas Kiarostami's formative Through the Olive Trees.